DESPITE around 40 pubs a week going to the wall, beer drinking seems to be booming in the Midlands.

And at the same time there are signs that European-style cafe culture may well be filling the gap as the good old British local comes under threat.

At the Great British Beer Festival earlier this month, attendance was up by five per cent on last year, with real ale fans flocking to try out the ever-increasing numbers of quality beers on offer. It seems that while the big breweries are suffering in the recession, the small independents are bucking the trend.

Festival organisers CAMRA revealed that Midlands drinkers are turning towards real ale in droves – the region was third, behind the North-East and East Anglia, as top supporters of real ales.

A CAMRA survey showed that in June 2008, 32 per cent of drinkers had tried real ale in the Midlands. By June 2010 that figure had doubled to 62 per cent.

Nationwide there are now 750 breweries in operation – more than at any time since the war.

While decent brews are now commonplace however, another survey has shown that a new café or restaurant will open for every pub or bar that closes over the next three years.

According to analyst Datamonitor, around 300 cafes and 1,900 restaurants are set to open by 2013, while the number of pubs and bars will fall by 2,000.

But we Brits are still a long way from adopting the European cafe culture – there are still ten times more pubs and bars in the UK than in France, and only a third of the number of restaurants and cafes.

So there’s plenty of time to celebrate Britain’s national drink before the corner boozer becomes a chic bistro.

Back at the festival, CAMRA gave some pointers to some of the best examples around. Members voted for the Champion Beer of Britain and Castle Rock’s Harvest Pale (from Nottingham) took the crown. The Champion Bottled Beer of Britain was St Austell’s Admiral Ale.

Best Buys

You’ll have to rush to Sainsbury’s to get hold of a brilliant bargain before it flies off the shelves. Half-bottles of Australian Botrytis Semillon 2006 from the famed De Bortoli winery have been discounted to just £1.99 (down from £4.99). This concentrated and peachy dessert wine is a real treat.